UBC Library’s notable Chinese collections will soon be accessible thanks to a unique collaborative project.
In February 2014, the Library, in conjunction with the University of Washington, won a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). This marks one of only two international collaborative efforts funded by the Washington, D.C.-based CLIR, and the first involving a Canadian university. The Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant involves the cataloguing of special Chinese-language materials at the UW’s East Asia Library and UBC’s Asian Library.
Work is already underway, and expected to be complete within the next year; when finished, up to 2,000 special Chinese publications – including pre-modern texts and rare publications of the Chinese Republican era – will be made accessible to scholars worldwide.
Yi tong pa guan ci chao, 1831-1861, from the Puban Collection. Photo courtesy of UBC Library Digital Collections.
According to Chinese Librarian Jing Liu, many of the previously hidden collections include items close to 1,000 years old; are made of hand-made paper and ink; usually have no title page or copyright information; and authors using pseudonyms. This kind of project “requires detailed research and authentication…it poses an unusual challenge to UBC Library,” says Liu.
Professor Boyue Yao, a Chinese rare materials expert, was brought on to the project in April. As the former head of the rare books department at Beijing University Library Professor Yao is well versed in Chinese rare-book identification. He is quick to point out that UBC’s collections are better than those in China, and indeed, the world.
Professor Yao is working in tandem with a CLIR project cataloguer, Mr. Ya min Wu, who joined the project in December. Mr. Wu specializes in classic and modern Chinese, and comes to the Library from Liaoning Provincial Library in China. Both Yao and Wu will continue their work over the next several months with the end goal of making all of the materials accessible online. UBC Library has already identified several hundred materials thanks to their valuable support.
For those who want to keep updated with the project as it proceeds, UBC Library’s Digital Collections portal has created a special collection specifically for Asian Library materials that have been digitized.
Professor Yao recently spoke at a reception in April – a gallery of photos, including some of the rare materials, is available on the Library’s Flickr page.
Cover image Poems of Dr. Fu.
About CLIR
The grant was made as part of CLIR’s Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives program, which is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. CLIR is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions and communities of higher learning. It aims to promote forward-looking collaborative solutions that transcend disciplinary, institutional, professional and geographic boundaries in support of the public good.